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(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheen 1. J. O. POTTER. EVENING MEOEANISM FOR COTTON OPENERS, &o. No. 411,350.

Patentedept. 17, 1889.l

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. C. POTTER. EVENING MEGHANSM FOR COTTON OPBNERS, 6to. No. 411,350.

Patented Sept. 17, 1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JAMES C. POTTER, OF PAVVTUOKET, RHODE ISLAND.

EVENING MECHANISMv FOR COTTON-OPEN ERS, Sac.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,350, dated September 17, 1889. Application iiled January 25, 1889l Serial No. 297,561. (No model.)

.To all w/wm it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES C. POTTER, of Pawtucket, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Evening Mechanism for Cotton-Openers, &c., of which the following is a speeiication.

My invention rela-tes to the evening meehanisln of machines for opening` or Workingcotton and other fibrous materials, and it has particular reference to the devices for imparting movement to the cone-drums and 'for regulating this movement. In this kind of machine one cone-drum is driven from the other through the intermediary of a belt, the position of which upon the drums is determined by a beltshipper or shipping-fork connected with and actuated from the scalelever system. For this purpose I employ a sliding rack-bar attached to the belt-shipper and gearing With a quadrant actuated by the scale-lever system. Such a combination, however, broadly considered, is not new. It is shown, for example, in my Letters Patent, No. 375,301, of December 20, 1837.

It is my object to arrange these parts so that there shall be as little friction as possible and so that they shall be extremely sensitive and quick to respond. To this end the rackbar has its teeth upon the under side and at the toothed end rests upon and is supported by the toothed quadrant, with which it meshes, its bearing at this end being furnished entirely by the quadrant, save that the frame of the machine, or rather of the cone-drum boX, through Which it passes, furnishes guides to prevent it from lateral Wabbling. The opposite or untoothed end of the bar is made cylindrical (in Which respect it is unlike the toothed end, which has a rectangular crosssection) and slides in a hole cut for it in the Wall of the cone-drum box. It is necessaryto vary or change the normal speed of the driven conedrum-that is to say, the cone-drum which receives lnotion from the other. Such change is needed in order to produce laps of different Weight, and is also needed When, for example, four laps are being fed to the machine and one of the laps gives out, thus leaving only three. In the latter event the rate of feed must be increased sufficiently to com pensate for the missing lap at the feed end of the machine in order to maintain uniform Weight in the iinished lap at the calendar end of the machine. This change is usually effected in machinery of the kind in question by shifting the belt nearer to one end or the 'other of the cone-drums, as the case may be,

this shifting being accomplished by means of an adj usting-screW-such, for example, as the adj Listing-screw G in my Letters Patent No. 375,301.

It is advantageous to maintain the belt normally about midway between the ends of the drums, because thereby it is afforded the greatest range of movement in both directions. Vhen it is shifted so as to stand normally nearer to one end of the drum, its range of movement in that direction is necessarily reduced. In some instances it is necessary to thus shift it to such an extent that it stands so near to one end of the drum as to have practically little or no range of movement in that direction, which is, of course, very objectionable.

To maintain the belt normally about mid- Way of the drums, and yet to vary or change the normal speed of the driven drum, I combine with the driving-shaft and pinion or spur Wheel thereon for imparting motion to the driving-drum, a change-gear on the drivingdru1n,and an intermediate gear adjustable in the are of a circle, of which the axis of the driving spur-Wheel is the center. The gear on the driving-drum can be changed at will for one having,` a greater or less number of teeth, and the intermediate gear can be adjusted toacoommodate itself to this change. Thus instead of varying the normal speed of the driven drum by shifting the belt I accomplish the same result by varying the normal speed of the driving-drum.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of so much of a cotton-opening machine as is needed. to illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the cone-drums, showing, also, the belt and the belt-shipper. Fig. 3 is an elevation of that portion of the cone-drum box through which the quadrant and the toothed end of the rackbar pass, showing the bar and the upper portion of the quadrant.

Fig. et is an elevation IOO of that portion of the wall of the cone-drum box, oniwhich appear the change-gear, adj ustable intermediate gear, and driving spurwheel hereinbefore referred to. Fig. 5 is a section through the intermediate gear, its supporting-bracket, and the adjoining wall of the cone-drum box on line 5 5, Fig. 4.

A is the frame of the machine.

B B are the feed-rolls.

C is one of the evener-plates- D is the evener-arm attached to the plate, and E is the knife-edge bar on which the evener plates are supported. These lastnamed parts are represented in large measure diagrammatically and only to such an extent as to indicate their relation to the other portions of the system.

The particular arrangement of these parts, which is illustrated in the drawings, is one which I have made the subject-matter, in part, of a separate application for Letters Patent, iiled July 9, 1888, Serial No. 279,395.

The scale-lever system is represented at F. It is one in which the scale-levers are combined with connecting-links, -whereby the levers below are suspended from those next above, andv the topmost levers are suspended from the evener-arms, all as fully described, and illustrated in my aforesaid application, Serial No. 279,395.

From the lowermost or main scale-lever, which I distinguish by the reference-letter F', motion is communicated to the shipper G, which ycontrols the belt H of the conedrums IJ. This motion is transmitted in the present instance through the instrumentality of a link a, which straddles the central portion of the main scale-lever, andis connected by a strap b to a sector c on rock-shaft d, which shaft, by the weighted lever e, is normally turned in a direction to keep the scalelever system taut and to hold the evenerplates with yielding pressure up against the top feed-roll B, which serves as an evener-roll as Well.,

Upon the rock-shaft d is fixed the toothed quadrant K, which plays through a slot f in the front Wall of the cone-drum box. Through this slot also passes the toothed portion or end of the horizontal rack-bar L, which is fixed to the vertical beltshipper. The toothed portion of the rack-bar has'a rectangular cross-section, and the width of the slot f,.through which it passes, is such that the sides of the slot form guides to prevent lateral wabbling of the rack-bar. That portion of the rack-bar which is on the other side of the shipper is cylindrical and passes through around hole in the rear wall of the conedrum box, which furnishes a bearing or guidein which this end of the rack-bar can easily slide. The rack-bar has its teeth upon its under side, and it depends for its support upon the toothed quadrant, on which it rests and with which it meshes. By reason of this arrangement the friction of the rack-bar is very greatly reduced and the mechanism is gear h, which latter in turn meshes with a change-gear t' on the hub of the cone-drum I. This change-gear is held upon the hub or axle of the cone-drum by a set-screw, so that Whenever it is desired to change the speed of the driving-drum it may be readily removed and replaced by another gear having a greater or less number of teeth, according as the speed of the drum is to be reduced or i11- creased.

Inasmuch as the various change-gears used from time to time on the cone-drum axle will vary in diameter, it becomes necessary to make the intermediate gear h adjustable, so that it may conform to the change, and to `this end it is mounted upon a support or bracket 7a, which is movable in the arc of a circle having as its center the axis of the spur-wheel g, so that the intermediate gear, whatever may be its change of position, will always be at the same distance from the spurwheel g. A convenient way of obtaining this adjustment is indicated in the drawings. In the wall of-the cone-box is formeda slot Z, the curve of which is struck upon a circle havlng as its center the axis of the spur-wheel g. The

foot of the bracket 7c upon its inner face is provided with guide-lugs m, which enter and Q fit in the slot Z to prevent any tilting of the bracket. A bolt n passes through the slot and through a hole in the foot of the bracket, and has screwed upon its outer end a nut 0,

by means of which the bracket, after having been adjusted, can be tightly and securely held in its adjusted position. By the means just described the normal speed of the driven drum .I can be varied without using the conedrum belt for the purpose. Atthe same time, however, in order to provide for extreme nicety of adjustment, I may, and in practice do, furnish the link a with an adj usting-screw a ,the point of which rests in a socketformed for it in the upper edge of the main scale lever. By turning this screw in one direction or the other the link a can be raised or lowered, and thus moving will act through the intermediary of the rock-shaft CZ and quadrant K to move the rack-bar in one direction or the other, as the case may be, and thus to correspondingly adjust the belt upon the conedrums. Such an adjustment, however,

. will be very slight, and need not materially v carry the belt to one side or the other of the median line.

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Having' described my improvements, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The Combination, with the Cone-drums and Cone-drum belt, of the belt-shipper, the oscillatory toothed quadrant, and thesliding rack-bar attached to the belt-shipper and at its toothed end resting upon, supported by, and engaging the toothed quadrant, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. The combination, With the cone-drums and cone-drum belt, the belt-shipper, and evening `mechanism for operating the same,

of the actuating-shaft M,its spur-wheel g, the 15 change-gear ron the hub or axle of one of the cone-drums, and the intermediate gear h and its supporting-bracket, adjustable in the aro of a orole struck from the axis of spur- Wheel g as a center, substantially as .and for 2o the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 18th day of January, 1889.

JAMES C. POTTER. Witnesses:

EWELL A. DICK, WILL E. AUGHINBAUGH. 

